- Oh my gosh, this might happen.
Okay plot twist gotta up my game.
It's a bowl of vegetables.
I took a big risk, I thought it would pay off, gorgeous.
That's just six year old behavior.
Yum I am into this.
Oh yeah.
Thumbs up, was that good, oh yum.
Hi, I'm Hannah, I'm the World's OK-est Mom.
And last season I secretly hid veggies in my family's food
for an entire week and it was a huge success.
So this time I'm going to try to take it even further.
I'm going to secretly feed my family vegan food for
(beep)
I'm going to secretly feed my family
vegan food for an entire week.
Will this seven day vegan challenge
solve all of my problems, I don't know.
Let's find out, wish me luck.
So here's the plan for the week.
I want to make every single meal
and snack vegan for the entire family, minus Henry.
I'm going to just tell them that I'm trying new recipes
which I've used that excuse a lot.
I think so, I don't know how well it's going to work.
We have tried a seven day vegan challenge before
and I got a lot of good advice
saying that I wasn't prepared enough
and that I bought too many pre-made foods.
And that's why my grocery bill was so high.
So this time I think I have a better grasp
of what is vegan and what is not.
If I make it through this week
and nobody notices that I'm sneaking vegan foods.
I get to treat myself to an entire
pint of my favorite ice cream.
So first things first, where am I?
We moved basically working from home with all the kids
at home and only having a pool
and concrete backyard like drove me to the brink.
So we sold our house in LA, we're living out in the
California desert in a tiny tiny 1000 square foot home
but there is a lots of land and lots of outdoor space
and we're really loving it here.
And I've since discovered my love for Crocs.
I have two pairs of dope Crocs.
Anyway that's our situation onto the food.
Vegan breakfast is actually pretty easy to make
because we usually do a lot of fruits.
For most breakfasts I just make toast and
I'll do this like super food honey.
Wait is honey vegan, so I Googled it and I feel
like there's a lot of mixed opinions around honey.
Some people choose to eat it as vegans and some don't.
So I just played it safe and I put it back in the cupboard.
Instead I'm going to do some super food coconut butter
serve that with some sliced banana.
- Woop
(laughter)
- [Hannah] Yum
Something that I had recently discovered
before this week was vegan yogurt.
It has come such a long way in terms of
creaminess and flavor that it's almost
indistinguishable it is so delicious.
So I got this, they can read, so I'm going to
put it in another bowl and see if anybody notices.
You guys want a little yogurt before we go on our walk.
- I love yogurt.
- [Hannah] Do you want some, okay.
I'll get you some, bye don't hover, thank you.
So I was so excited to see the boys
blind taste test the yogurt and see what they thought
because they are yogurt connoisseurs.
- That's good.
- How are you doing Wyatt, they loved it.
They could not tell the difference.
They thought it was delicious and I will keep buying it.
Thumbs up is that good, oh yum.
So day one was easy, let's take on day two.
Day two was all about the cheese.
I've had very mixed luck with vegan cheese
and I really wanted to do something special and tasty.
I'm making deluxe cheesy mac I hope it
substitutes with no issue and just
with the theme of cheese I've decided I'm going to
serve it with a caprese salad.
I found a vegan mozzarella and so it
gave me the idea to make a caprese salad.
I got this beautiful big heirloom
got some regular tomato, okay plot twist.
This mozzarella is very mushy.
This cheese turned out to be more like a thick cream cheese.
It's not like a regular mozzarella where it has
like some bounce and some stretch to it.
It does tastes good though, the flavor was there.
So I didn't even mind the difference in texture.
The boys on the other hand, you don't like that cheese?
- Tomatoes I like.
- What's wrong with the cheese?
- [Wyatt] I don't like the tomatoes
because there's green stuff on them.
- It's basil friend, then just pick the basil off.
Okay, really good.
- [Jackson] Let's try the mac and cheese
- That's really good, the noodles are good
The sauce is fine.
Everybody loved the Mac and cheese.
They ate it, they loved the meal, Wyatt did notice.
- It doesn't taste like cheese.
- But he still ate it, it made me a little nervous
that they might have noticed that it was a vegan meal.
So I figured day three I'd have
to step it up a little bit more.
We're getting a late start to dinner
but I have my potato peeler right here.
While we make coconut Curry.
So when we were living in Los Angeles
this Thai restaurant that was by our house
had this amazing yellow curry with
potatoes and carrots and chicken.
So I used that as inspiration for my day three meal.
At the core I am a clean out the fridge cook.
I'm not a recipe person, I look at what's in my fridge.
I look at what's about to go bad
and I figure out what to make with it.
And that was my biggest mistake on day three.
I had kale that was on a last legs, I had to use it.
And I wanted to see if they still enjoyed mushrooms.
And I think it was just too much, and yes those are crocs.
What are your thoughts, what do you see?
- I see mushrooms my favorite.
- [Hannah] You like mushrooms?
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] Mm mm.
- It's good.
- [Hannah] What do you think Wyatt?
- Good.
- Mm mm, Wyatt what's your favorite part?
You'll notice that Wyatt doesn't talk much in this video.
I think it's primarily because his sassiness
has evolved to the next level where
he refuses to acknowledge me sometimes.
What do you think?
Its like Thai food isn't it?
- [Hannah] Is it like the restaurant?
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] Henry is full blown toddler now.
So he was painfully trying to get
something off the table, any different?
- More healthier.
- The Curry was underwhelming.
It was a little too vegetable forward I'd say.
I really think that after today they're on to me.
So day four my mission was to throw them off.
It's burger day, these look great.
They cook up just like regular burgers.
I made a salad with tomato, butter lettuce, cucumber.
Usually I would top it with some cheese
but we're not going to miss it.
And then I have all the fixings for some Epic burgers.
Then I did get some Vegenaise.
I've heard great things about Vegenaise.
I've heard that it actually tastes
better than regular mayonnaise.
So I figured what better way to try it than on a burger.
We're going to put it to the test.
- It looks like you used like vegan burgers.
- [Hannah] Vegan burgers?
- Yeah Beyond burgers.
- [Hannah] Do you like them though?
- Yeah they're yummy.
It's fantastic.
(upbeat music)
- I didn't ask for mayo.
- [Hannah] Honey, just give it a taste.
It's not may it's cream sauce, try it.
- [Jackson] I'm done.
- [Hannah] Are you finished, oh my goodness.
Thumbs up, they loved the burgers.
End of day four I am feeling very confident
in my sneaky skills I feel like I've thrown them
off completely and they don't suspect a thing.
So of course I blow it on day five.
Dinner time, tonight for dinner, I am going all out.
I'm going to make an epic stir fry.
The one thing I'm going to try to incorporate is tofu.
I like tofu, I eat tofu all the time.
I' serve it to my family and I know that
they don't like it, so why I decided to
bring out the tofu for this week in particular is beyond me.
I should have known, I have gorgeous head a cauliflower.
I'm going to roast it separately.
Some of the best vegan food that I've ever
had is Asian inspired with Asian seasonings and flavors.
Ponzu sauces so good on a stir fry.
I thought it'd go over really well
and maybe change their mind about tofu, I was wrong.
- What do you think?
- Oh looks good.
- I don't like tofu.
- There was a very adverse reaction to my stir fry.
- I'd rather have pho.
- [Hannah] You'd rather have pho?
- Yeah.
- I'd rather have ramen.
- Sorry, this is what Henry thought.
Even Henry didn't like it tough customer.
It's a bowl of vegetables everybody hates it.
Its fine its not great, day five big fail.
A hundred percent my fault, but I had two more days to
really blow it out of the water and do a good job.
So day six I decided to make Buffalo chicken burgers
because the beef fooled them pretty well.
So I wanted to see how fake chicken did.
Can't go wrong with a little fruit on the side.
This looks good, how does lunch look?
- Good.
- [Hannah] Wyatt did you see that
I gave you a small avocado piece just to try.
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] Will you eat it?
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] Amazing.
- Mm that's good.
- [Hannah] What do you think?
- Its really good.
- [Hannah] Oh gosh there's a big mess on the table.
Mm that's good, the bun certainly helps, this is very good.
- Those chicken patties were fantastic and crispy
and juicy and so good down to the flavor and texture.
If you hadn't told me they were vegan
I probably wouldn't have noticed.
Yay finally something Wyatt likes.
Seems like I have three happy customers.
I think they ate that entire meal.
Truly believing that it was chicken.
Day six was a big win back on track.
So day seven it was time to finish strong.
Day seven big finish, here's what I decided to do.
I wanted to combine a classic meal with a
wild card ingredient, so I'm going to make
some pasta sauce, some bolognese and spaghetti.
Obviously spaghetti, what else would I make?
To up my game I've gotten these meatless grounds
and I'm going to put these in my sauce
and they're going to be delicious.
And as an appetizer vegan crab cakes.
I am allergic to shellfish and it was
an adult onset allergy so I didn't become
allergic to shellfish until after I'd already had Wyatt.
I'm so excited for these, if these taste anything
like crab cakes I'm going to freak out.
The secret to my tomato sauce, I use San Marzano tomatoes
and I like to get the whole peeled ones.
And I squish them with my hands, so satisfying.
Got some salt and then I'll add a healthy amount
of oregano and then lightly dried basil.
But the great thing about San Marzano tomatoes
is they're less acidic so they make the sauce really sweet.
You don't have to add any sugar or anything.
And this might happen, so I'm going to bring this sauce
to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer
and just do it forever, set it and forget it.
You want to simmer as long as you can
it releases all the flavor it makes a delicious sauce.
I have my vegan crab cakes cooking.
Appetizers served not quite but still good.
Just not very crabby.
- You have to buy this again, this would be the best lunch.
- Jackson and those crab cakes, he fell in love.
I think maybe because he was so young
when I became allergic to shellfish
he doesn't really know what it tastes like
or remember what it tastes like.
So this is the first time he's really
had anything close to a crab cake.
(baby crying)
- You don't like it?
Wyatt did not like the crab cakes.
Which didn't surprise me, and all it meant was
there were more for Jackson to enjoy.
Oh yeah this looks fantastic, is that good?
- Yeah.
- It is good, I'm missing a little Parmesan.
Oh they love my pasta, I make good pasta.
I made it through the week I really felt like
the boys didn't suspect anything at all.
So all that was left was to tell them
do you remember the food we've had the past week?
- Yeah
- [Hannah] Did you know that it was vegan?
- Yeah I know.
- And they knew the whole time.
So I tried to be a sneaky mom for the week
and my sons are so kind they humored me.
But I thought I was the sneaky one in the family.
But they're the real sneaks of this video.
So the one thing that I did take away
from this week was I found a lot
of meals that they really enjoy.
And that was really exciting because I want to
continue to incorporate more plant based
meals into our diet, so I know I said
that if I made it through the week and
and tricked the boys I got to reward
myself with a pint of ice cream.
Now I didn't trick them but I did
already buy the ice cream and I'm an adult
and I can do whatever I want, so that's it for now.
I'm Hannah and if you don't already make sure you follow me
on Instagram and please message me
and let me know how you think I did with this challenge.
Was I sneaky, was I not am I a mean mom?
Please let me know, and if you'll excuse me.
I have some work to do on this ice cream til next time.
(upbeat music)